Page 77 - bne Magazine August 2022

bne August 2022
Opinion 77
things, require: ensuring the independence of central banks of member states, bans on direct monetary financing of the public sector by central banks, and prohibition of privileged access of the public sector to financial institutions.
On the way to full accession to the EU, these elements of monetary policy are the benchmarks for the candidate countries and are subject to annual evaluation. Failure to meet these requirements can hinder European integration or drag out the process of Ukraine’s joining the EU for decades, as has happened to Turkey.
Finally, it is worth noting that Ukraine and its economy are
MITTELEUROPEAN INSIGHTS
currently undergoing many traumas and trials. However, in overcoming these trials and tribulations, there is a chance to emerge stronger.
Overcoming the reliance on monetary financing can strengthen the country both economically and institutionally. And then the “post-traumatic” recovery will be more stable and more rapid.
This column first appeared on Ekonomichna Pravda’s website and was republished on the NBU’s website.
Brussels needs to jump-start the Western Balkan accession process
Gunter Deuber in Vienna, Fjorent Rrushi in Tirana, Ivona Zametica in Sarajevo
The EU summit at the end of June, which included an EU-Western Balkans leaders' meeting, had a bitter aftertaste for the CEE region. By giving an official accession candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, the EU has created an abstract enlargement perspective for those two countries. Such a move was possibly morally unavoidable. At the same time, the more concrete EU enlargement perspective for the Western Balkans continues to falter, as it has for years.
Compared to Ukraine and Moldova, Bosnia has not been granted official candidate status yet, with less than a handful of EU members supporting such a move now. Albania and Northern Macedonia are still not allowed to finally start EU entry negotiations because of internal EU blockades and leadership weaknesses inside the EU. The
GDP per capita (% of EU, at PPP)
EU accession negotiations of Montenegro and Serbia have been stuck in no-man’s land for 10 years. In some cases, not only disappointment with EU enlargement, but alienation is also recognisable in the Western Balkans, given the EU’s complicated relationship with the region.
But right now, ironically, there is also hope. In light of the massive challenges with the new EU candidate Ukraine, some Western Balkan issues appear more manageable.
More strategically, with new EU enlargement candidates in the post-Soviet space, the EU's enlargement agenda will remain
an essential and (geo-)strategic policy field for decades to come. Prior to this, enlargement agendas were not necessarily considered an important EU policy area.
Ukraine lags behind West Balkan average GDP per capita on a purchasing power basis.
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